“Moment of Truth”: Not half bad for Fox

No lie — Fox’s much-touted "Moment of Truth" had some stickiness in its debut Wednesday behind "American Idol." It passed the toughest test of holding on to the vast majority of "Idol’s" coattails.

"Truth" — which challenges contestants answer a string of increasingly personal questions, things they’ve already answered while strapped to a polygraph machine prior to going on camera, in the hopes of claiming the $500,000 top prize — wound up with 23.2 million viewers and 10.2 rating/24 share in the key adults 18-49 demo, per prelim Nielsens. "Idol," by contrast in its final half-hour pulled 28.5 million viewers and 11.4/28 in 18-49.

"Truth" also held up well at the half-hour mark — if "Idol" viewers were gonna bail, they would’ve bailed by 9:30. Show lost about 3.7 million viewers and three demo share points between at the half, which isn’t half bad by any measure.

With "Idol" back on the sked, everything else pretty much paled, but an honorable mention goes to NBC’s "Deal or No Deal" (13.8 million, 3.7/10) which managed to put up its best numbers in 13 months despite going toe to toe at 8 p.m. with "Idol."